2011 F1 season

One of my favourite new features on the site is the ability for F1 Fanatic to pick which drivers and teams they support.

With that in mind, I’ve had a look who you’ve picked so far and compiled this look at the most popular drivers and teams on F1 Fanatic right now.

Keep in mind these figures are not set in stone – they will change as more people join in on the site and others shift their allegiances between drivers and teams.

Drivers

Which drivers F1 Fanatic readers are supporting - November 2011

Jenson Button is the most popular driver among F1 Fanatic readers right now. Around one in eight F1 Fanatics (12.4%) who’ve used the site since the new version was launched picked him as a driver they’re supporting.

Kamui Kobayashi’s third place in the list underlines his reputation as a fan favourite.

Robert Kubica may not have raced this year but he’s far from forgotten and well inside the top ten.

Despite only having entered F1 mid-season, Daniel Ricciardo already had more than 50 fans

Some people picked only one driver, others picked as many as ten or more

To find out how many people support each driver, type their name into the search box and select results for members

Teams

Which teams F1 Fanatic readers are supporting - November 2011

McLaren are way out in front – Having the two most popular drivers probably helps!

Support is spread quite evenly among the remaining teams, with Lotus a surprise third. Will they still be as popular when they become Caterham?

To find out how many people support each team, type their name into the search box and select results for members

What year you started watching F1

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/charts/2011drivercolours.csv

Year

1950

1951

1952

1953

1954

1955

1956

1957

1958

1959

1960

1961

1962

1963

1964

1965

1966

1967

1968

1969

1970

1971

1972

1973

1974

1975

1976

1977

1978

1979

1980

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

Number of F1 Fanatics who started watching in this year

4

0

0

2

1

0

2

1

0

1

1

2

0

3

5

4

3

5

2

1

6

3

4

1

1

3

12

6

6

7

12

8

7

4

13

23

24

14

20

19

34

27

35

22

55

35

49

41

53

45

44

16

20

23

25

30

29

60

34

29

27

12

Most of us started watching F1 in the last 20 years.

But there’s plenty of F1 Fanatics whose memories stretch back far further – some even as far as the first years of the world championship.

Over to you

This is a snapshot of which drivers and teams are the most popular at the moment – but how will it look in a few months’ time? We’ll take another look at who’s earning your support again in the future.

You can change your selections at any time. Just log in and go to go to My Account > Profile > Edit > F1 teams and drivers.

Are you in the majority or minority when it comes to which drivers and teams you support? Have you changed your allegiance recently? Have your say in the comments.

The viewer spike in 2007 would be largely due to Hamilton and he deserves recognition for bringinh a lot of people back to the sport. Love hime or hate him i believe he gave F1 a big boost when he came in. I see him in the same light a Tiger Woods whomis credited with a huge boost in golf support and new club memberships around the world.

I started viewing the year before AJ won the WDC and in Australia you had to be a an insomniac to follow ever race.

I think Button personality, makes him the people favourite for many reasons. I think that many people that voted on other drivers must have voted on Button cause its hard not to respect a guy that speaks honestly acts honestly and works honestly.

What i’ve been saying for some years at this website is finnally confirmed there are more Mclaren fans than the rest by an huge margin some poll results also back that out, Its not a surprise, Mclaren is the most successfull team in F1 during our lifes, the victories the drivers and the controversies theres no doubt that Mclaren is one of the pilars of F1, personally im just an opposite guy so I chose Ferrari to be my team, quite unusual for a brit but great rivalry.

Obs. People may have confused Lotus and Renault some in protest or denial.

I’m very pleased to see Button #1. As others have pointed out, since being thrust “back into the limelight” in 2009 he’s shown some blinding talent, great races, maturity, good humour, professionalism, humanity and integrity. Yes he complains about mysterious missing grip or “front locking” in qualifying, but we all know that’s to cover his jumpy nerves – it’s not the sort of petulant whining you get from other drivers, and he doesn’t berate the team. He is a tough competitor without being a cheat or a hothead, he can run a clinical, Prost-like win where he not only knows the state of his own race, but works out what his rivals are doing and factors that in too. Equally, he can storm through the field and overtake with the best of them. He won a world championship when someone else had the fastest car overall, and had plenty of years in crap equipment which encourages those who like an underdog.

If you had to pick a man who reminded you of the great british drivers of the 60’s like Clark, Hill, Surtees or Stewart, or the “real men” of racing from times gone by, I think he’s the only man on the grid today you’d choose.

The only media to report that story are the sun and the mirror, the Sun are rehashing the mirror, and Byron young from the mirror hasn’t given any indication when or to whom button supposedly said this to, and has refused to respond to requests for clarification. Both papers are full of worthless lies a lot of the time.

Now hold on a minute. Am I missing something? How do we vote on our “favourite” driver? Is this a tally from the “Driver of the weekend”?

I’ve always considered these two different things. I might love Kovalainen, but think Vettel did best over a weekend, for instance. For DOTW I always vote for the diver who I think did best, not the one I like the most. How does everyone else do it? Just vote for your favourite every race?

Webber got me into F1 in ’02 (more like a casual fan) and I became a hardcore never-miss-a-race fan when he jumped in a red bull in ’07. So it’s obvious he’s my favourite, there’s no better sight than a fired up Mark destroying the field, which unfortunately has been completely missing this year. But I break it down like this; I love watching Vettel’s qualifying laps, I love watching Alonso’s racecraft, I love watching Button’s ability to think out a race, and I love watching Schumi battle his way up the field. I just enjoy watching all of them (except Hamilton, and that’s due to an attitude problem more than anything else).

I’ve been watching since the early 80’s and have gone through phases supporting various teams and drivers. These days though I don’t support one driver or one team over any other, I simply support the sport itself. 90% of the time I genuinely don’t mind who wins a race, and I don’t really mind who wins either of the championships. Maybe I’m just getting old :)

I’ve been a Ferrari fan since 1993, but I’ve really been losing the faith these last two years.

Alonso is an exceptional driver, but seems kind of obnoxious. Scandal follows him around like a bad smell. Massa is too often an embarrassment now: he’s been a loyal servant for many years, but I don’t really know what he is doing in a Ferrari.

The cars haven’t been the same since Rory Byrne left. The team seems to be going back to its years of underperforming. The cars are not even as beautiful as they used to be: the ugly Santander logos everywhere are a travesty.

So I don’t really know who to support any more. Ferrari has to sort itself out.